First, ask PM not to label Punjab a drug state, Jakhar tells SAD
Monday, 05/01/2015
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AMRITSAR: Punjab Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar on Sunday advised the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership that instead of staging dharnas along the border with Pakistan, they should go and discuss the drug issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tell him that Punjab was being wrongly targeted on this issue. Talking to the media on the eve of the SAD’s proposed anti-drug dharnas, Jakhar pointed out that Modi had himself expressed grave concern on the drug addiction problem in Punjab.
The vote against the SADBJP alliance in the Lok Sabha elections, particularly in the Amritsar parliamentary constituency, was against the drug abuse and the alleged involvement of the ruling party leaders in drug trade, many of whom were now getting summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he added.
“Why stage dhar nas, go and meet the PM and clarify before him the allegations that are being levelled against the alleged involvement of Akali leaders in the drug trade. Tell the PM that we (Akalis) are wrongly being blamed and ask him not to tarnish the image of the Punjabis,” he added.
‘GOVT RESPONSIBLE FOR DRUG FLOW’
The CLP leader flayed deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal for wrongly putting the blame on the Border Security Force (BSF) for the inflow of drugs into Punjab. “This is a dangerous trend with a government putting the blame on security agencies and asking the public to demonstrate against these agencies,” he said.
“Such a trend was witnessed in the Kashmir valley and now the Akalis are replicating it here. This can lead to serious problems, particularly security problems,” he added.
Jakhar said that similarly it was unfair to blame the Rajasthan government for the flow of opium, poppy and poppy husk into Punjab. The poppy and poppy husk problem is not visible in Gujarat and Haryana which also share a common border with Rajasthan, he added.
‘STOP DISTRIBUTION OF PRE-POLL LIQUOR’
Stating that a number of political parties and leaders crying hoarse over the drug issue and holding protests and demonstrations in this regard resorted to liquor distribution to garner votes ahead of elections, senior BJP leader Laxmi Kanta Chawla on Sunday urged them to take a pledge to abstain from this practice.
“Often politicians and political parties depend on liquor and drugs to contest elections. They get people addicted to intoxicants. They should all take pledge to abstain from this practice prior to elections,” she said in a statement issued here.
Chawla urged political leaders to refrain from playing politics over the issue of drug addiction. “The political leaders should also declare, who among them consumes liquor or any intoxicant,” she said.
